


Butterflies

by gwendee



Series: Gwen's quest to mess with tropes [2]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: After the debacle of Left and Right, Alternate Universe, Angst, Canon Compliant, Dysfunctional Family, Future Fic, Gen, Introspection, Last words, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Sort Of, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, but like no, but like not really, hear me out, ok listen, this is different
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28219215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendee/pseuds/gwendee
Summary: The last thing someone says to you is printed on your body.The Asanos, for one word, and 1.5k words, and two.
Relationships: Asano Gakuhou & Asano Gakushuu
Series: Gwen's quest to mess with tropes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088081
Comments: 32
Kudos: 139





	Butterflies

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Just a fun little rambly introspection fic, nothing much. 
> 
> This idea is one I've had in my head for the longest time, because, like, isn't it great? The last word your soulmate says to you is forever branded on your skin. (With a twist, of course, because Gakushuu and Gakuhou are, um, Not soulmates in any sense of the form.) ((Although I did plan on writing a soulmate fic for them eventually. As in yes, soulmates with each other. As in in a very our-fates-are-intertwined-together-not-romantically-but-just-yes kind of way. As in a multiple lives reincarnation fic where- okay you know what? I'm getting ahead of myself.))
> 
> Where was I? 
> 
> Waspfactor's recent fic, [Cyclopentane](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28087389), it's a wonderful fic and everyone should read it because I loved it! If you liked this fic, you'll definitely like that! Wasp's fic reminded me of this idea and inspired me to start and finish it.
> 
> Also. I wrote this in like. An hour just now. Forgive me if it sucks dkdhdk

**Wind, Rewind, Intertwined**

“Bye,” Gakushuu says, and turns the door handle.

“Goodbye.”

Gakushuu feels it just as he takes one step through the threshold of the main doors, the faint prickling of skin. He rips open the button on his collar and looks down - there, right above his heart, is the knitting of ink showing the (upside down) word printed neatly in his father’s handwriting. 

“Goodbye.”

And Gakushuu knows the man feels it too, with what sudden stillness there is behind his back - the sharp intake of a breath, and the shattering of a glass.

Gakushuu’s hand tightens on the doorknob. 

He doesn’t want to turn around. He doesn’t want to turn around.

He wants to turn around.

The last thing someone says to you is printed on your body. 

Why? Nobody really knows. It was just one of the things that  _ was _ , a universal truth accepted since the beginning of time; and yet it’s one of the things that had no rhyme or reason governing it.

Worst still, there is no way to determine - there are hypotheses and theories, but no etched confirmation - of who would end up on your skin, or the type of mark they would leave, even:

the most common of which were words, simply put, the last words someone says to you. Most commonly do the words come from the people whom you’ve formed at least some form of connection with, because imagine if every single small-talk and “excuse me” you said to a stranger was written on your skin? 

But there were some cases where those happened, as well, where you barely had a conversation with a cashier and stepped away to see “thank you, come again” on your arm. And in those cases, the people who called themselves statisticians said that it happened every 1% of the time and every 1% of the time meant it was just random error; the people who called themselves romantics said that it meant a missed connection that could have been so much more, but now fate has decreed you would never see each other again.

Sometimes they weren’t even words - there were touches, and Gakushuu had a mark of a kiss that his mother placed at the side of his head the morning before she died, he knows his father has the staccato of a heartbeat line somewhere on his back, and he’s seen the 3-E kids who all have the imprint of a crescent moon on the round of their left shoulder. 

And here it is. “Goodbye.” 

The last words they’ll ever exchange. How bitterly fitting it is for it to be a farewell all on it’s own.

But the thing is,  _ the thing is, _

if there hadn’t been these last words, what would have happened? Because Gakushuu almost turns back, just before he leaves, just before he says goodbye.

He’s set off to go to the States in just a few hours. He has his luggage packed, his bag slung over his shoulder. Every step he takes he wonders, is he coming back? For all the things Gakuhou had done…

And he almost turned around, when he had his hand on the doorknob, to say something,  _ anything _ , the words “I love you”, “I miss you”, on the tip of his tongue, he wants to say it before he regretted never saying it because he doesn’t know if he’ll ever come back-

-before something up there sealed his fate and told him he’s already gone too far.

(Maybe in another world without marks, Gakushuu does, because there is telling him that he no longer has a chance to, but the words appearing on his skin is like a burning bridge.)

And Gakushuu’s gaze falls down to his hand around the door handle, and behind him he hears the shatter of glass (his father was holding a cup, in his hands, just before), and Gakushuu’s fingers itches to go round back and find a broom-

What was fate to a non-believer? Words were just words, ink was just ink, what was stopping Gakushuu from saying what he wanted to say? There was no explanation for this, other than the naysayers and the truth spinners and the words of people who are already dead?

If you walked out of the hospital room and suddenly last words bloomed across your skin, would you turn back? What if you turned back and they started to die there and then? What if they didn’t?

His father had gotten so many marks in his lifetimes. So many people have gotten premature goodbyes in their lifetimes. Why didn’t they turn around? Why didn’t they ask the question, what was this unnatural phenomenon meant to dictate?

Why isn’t Gakushuu himself turning around?

And there’s something in his chest, bubbling up - he wants to be four years old again, curled up on his father’s lap, being sung a lullaby,, back when goodbyes seemed so far and far away. Who wanted to say goodbye to a family member when they were seventeen? He wants to be brave, and curious, and daring, and he knows he’ll regret it if he doesn’t turn around-

But does he want to, anymore? 

It’s like… it’s like, the universe is offering him an out. A decisive clean slate. How many people have cried from relief when their abusers’ last words finally appear on their skin? Isn’t it a blessing to know, for certain, the beginning and ending of things? No more waiting by the phone at night, watching the door in trepidation, nightmares about them returning with a vice - because they wouldn’t, because it’s fated to be so. Wasn’t that great?

Imagine walking down the road, passing by a stranger. The both of you say, “excuse me,” and the both of you feel the tingle on your skin. You look at each other, share an expression of amusement, mirth, and then wave and part ways. You’ll never run across them again.

Imagine being seven in elementary school, and you and your best friend part ways. Then you feel the brush of their fingertips against your sleeve, and when you go home you see the outline of their handprint there, a brush of a goodbye, and you don’t talk when you see each other in the halls next year even though there wasn’t any real reason not to. 

Imagine you are a parent, and your child is moving out, and you realize it’s the last time you’ll ever speak to them. How could you let them go?

Gakushuu turns around.

Gakuhou stands there, hand bloodied from the cut glass, staring blankly in Gakushuu’s direction. His eyes falls to Gakushuu’s chest - shirt unbuttoned, written in his own handwriting, “Goodbye.”

Gakushuu can see his own handwriting. “Bye”, on his father’s forearm, blood trickling down around it.

Gakushuu opens his mouth. 

Nothing comes out.

He doesn’t know what to say, what should he say? The last words have already been said, there is nothing left for him-

“Goodbye,” Gakuhou says. His voice is small, hoarse, so incredibly loud.

Gakushuu’s tongue is heavy in his mouth,

“Goodbye,” Gakuhou repeats, and then again,

“Bye,” Gakushuu says, and his throat burns when he says so, as if it won’t allow him to say anything else, 

And Gakushuu doesn’t want this to be the last thing he ever says to his father, he doesn’t want it to be “Bye,” and he doesn’t want the last thing his father says to him to be “Goodbye” as well, what kind of joke was that? 

With shaky bloody fingers Gakuhou raises his hands, 

_ I love you _ . 

Sign language, and for a brief moment it’s almost like the skin on Gakushuu’s chest burns,-

-as if, they almost found a loophole, within this stupid system, and if anyone could beat fate itself, it would be them, wouldn’t it be? They were the Asanos, after all, what have they not done, what have they not made it through? What if they just continued like this? In limbo, terrifying uncertainty,-

-they are not smited down by any gods for their attempts to jump through red tape. How many other people have, once last words are said out loud, grabbed a paper and pen to write out something more? Gone to get a tattoo coverup for their last words as if it would reset time? It’s not as if there was any form of right answer, just human creativity and interpretation, bound by no upper laws,-

-but Gakushuu has to go. His flight is in two hours. 

And five minutes ago before all of this, some part of him was already never planning to come back. He already didn’t want to turn around. How ironic it was that it was  _ last words _ that made him hesitate.

And his father looks at him - and Gakuhou was always too smart for his own good, Gakushuu thinks - with such a sad smile on his face, like he has always known that despite what last words said, that Gakuhou would never see him again.

“Goodbye,” Gkauhou says.

“Bye,” Gakushuu says. 

Gakushuu shuts the door between them.

**Nobody follows religion without criticism, and everybody still looks for a god**

**Author's Note:**

> Me wondering if I should tag this with "Light Angst", "Angst" or "Heavy Angst".  
> Thanks for reading!  
> And yes, writing [Left or Right](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28172469) did, in fact, kick my ass in gear. Not me using normal soulmate/soulmark tropes for anything other than it's intended purposes.


End file.
